Jamie xx
A dance-floor chant built from a handful of vocal samples looped and rearranged rather than a lyric in any conventional sense.…
collective identity cultural pride/nationalism (subcultural) defiance
The Clash
A cartoonish fable about a ruler banning music and a population that defies him anyway, set to a bouncy synth-and-rock groove…
authoritarianism vs. popular culture religious/political censorship satire of Western intervention
Steve Earle
A defiant survivor's anthem in which the narrator refuses to be pitied or contained, casting himself as a storyteller-outlaw…
survival and defiance inherited identity addiction and recovery
Sandy Denny
This is a traditional British/Irish folk ballad given a spare, haunting reading by Sandy Denny, in which a woman recounts…
seduction and betrayal female shame and defiance broken promises
The Jam
A debut single that doubles as a manifesto, announcing a generational voice against the backdrop of late-70s urban Britain. It's…
generational conflict youth identity urban alienation